Monday, September 26, 2011

A Savory Roaster Found

The Savory Roaster Post has gotten more comments than any other post on our blog. It seems there are a few people out there who are looking for them. This is for you. I just found a listing for one available on Etsy for $48.00. This is a photo of the one available there. Looks like a nice one to me.

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I thought your readers might be interested to know that there were in fact six sizes of Savory roasters made at least in the 1920's, according to an old brochure I have from the time.

The largest were called Hotel size, one oblong & one oval like there smaller sizes. These Hotel sizes would accommodate a thirty five pound roast or a thirty pound bird. I'd never seen one of these giant ones until I found an oval one at a local thrift store yesterday, & after researching, I found an oblong one that had been sold on eBay on 11/16/2010. It is posted on the worthpoint.com website & was titled; "Antique Savory Roaster Patn July 19, 1898". Here are links to pictures of my Hotel (oval) Sized one, the page from my 1920's brochure showing the sizes & the worthpoint page of the Hotel (oblong) Sized one. They both must be quite rare, but then again, how many people need a roaster that big.

I hope worthpoint doesn't mind me posting this link. If they do, you can always do a search for "Antique Savory Roaster Patn July 19, 1898" & find it. I just wanted to spread the knowledge, since I couldn't find any info on these big one outside the old 1920's brochure that I bought off of eBay.

I grew up with these roasters. I now have my mothers (medium), my grandmothers (large) and 5 more I found various places over the years. What I can not understand is why nobody has reproduced these things. The patent has to be out of date and these our the best roasters out there. When you researched this did you find who had the patent last? I know these were made into the late 1940's because that is when my mother bought hers brand new. I would think these would sell quite well, especially if made in stainless.

Hi there, I have cooked turkey breasts in the Savory, but never the entire bird. I set a small poultry oval rack for lifting hot items such as a turkey from the roaster. primarily I use it to keep the turkey from sitting directly in the juices.

The beauty of the roaster is that bird will brown with the lid on, but normally I start off with the lid off and then after 1/3 of the cooking time I return the lid and allow the juices to accumulate. Use your best judgement and roast at recommended time and temperature and your bird will be most likely the most tender and juicy bird ever.

My mother has one of the two large Savory roasters purchased by my great-grandmother in 1917 for the double wedding (11/1/1917) of two of my great-aunts. That roaster has so many great memories and family history associated with it that even if it doesn't get used all that often it still is a keepsake to our family.

We have an appreciation for well prepared food and for the countless generations of cooks that have tasted, tested and documented their recipes. This has made it possible for usto experience a bit of culinary history, cultures and theinfinite possibility of taste.